:quality(70):focal(342x686:352x696)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6U3XQQI3V5FFFNS7BNA5H5RTGM)
A man who killed three people in a series of attacks in Nottingham, England previously tried to surrender himself to MI5, in the belief the agency was controlling him, urging it to “please arrest me”.
Valdo Calocane (32), who has paranoid schizophrenia, believed he was being “interfered with unnaturally” by “malign forces” since 2019.
He has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in killing Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, daughter of Irish-born, London-based consultant anaesthetist Sinead O’Malley. He also attempted to kill three others during a spate of violence in Nottingham on June 13th last.
At Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday, defence lawyer Peter Joyce KC said Calocane appeared at Thames House in London, the headquarters of MI5, in May 2021 asking the agency to arrest him in order to get it to stop controlling him.
:quality(70):focal(1317x809:1327x819)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/E5DUDJU7CRJPJZ7K555ACUN47I.jpg)
:quality(70):focal(1882x801:1892x811)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/BRPBOA5F7QG2KR74AQJ74USQMM.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7WMGJZGIPNQ7GFNF4GVOHGXK7E.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/U75UK3ZMH355X6PRRUMSGISLGM.jpg)
He had experienced a number of psychotic delusions over a number of years in which he heard voices and believed agencies such as MI5 were controlling his thoughts and actions, the court heard.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Nigel Blackwood said that on one occasion, Calocane had broken into a flat as he “thought he had heard his family screaming that they were being assaulted”. One of the occupants of the flat had jumped out of an upstairs window because they were so frightened by his behaviour, he said.
Another time, Dr Blackwood added, Calocane drove hundreds of miles to his family home as he believed they were at risk of harm. He refused to go inside the house as he thought MI5 could “see through him”.
Calocane had been treated by mental health services since 2020, but often refused to take medication, lied about his symptoms and declined to engage with mental health practitioners. In a report on his condition, Dr Blackwood said the defendant was “an intelligent man who strove to conceal his madness from clinicians”.
It has been revealed that an arrest warrant was issued for Calocane after he failed to attend court in September 2022 over an alleged assault on a police officer while he was being transported to hospital the previous year.
The warrant was still outstanding at the time of the attacks last June and Nottinghamshire police have admitted they should have done more to track him down, although he was unlikely to have been imprisoned for the offence.
The assistant chief constable Rob Griffin said: “I have personally reviewed this matter and we should have done more to arrest him. However, because of the circumstance prevailing, at the time of the alleged assault, in my opinion, it is highly unlikely that he would have received a custodial sentence.”
Psychiatrists said Calocane had a treatment-resistant form of schizophrenia and that he could pose a potentially deadly risk to others in prison if he refused to take medication.
Dr Blackwood said: “He has shown a profound lack of insight into the fact that he has an illness.
“Were he to stop taking medication in prison, there is a significant risk of lethal behaviours returning, whether against prison officers or fellow inmates.”
He was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time he carried out the killings, the psychiatrist said, but he would have known his actions “were morally wrong, as well as legally wrong”.
He added there was “no suggestion substance misuse has played any role in the genesis of this illness”.
Offering mitigation on behalf of Calocane, Mr Joyce urged the judge not to consider a whole-life order, saying paranoid schizophrenia is an “unwanted visitor” which “stalked down” a man of previously impeccable character and behaviour.
Addressing Calocane’s arrest after attacking an emergency worker, Mr Joyce said: “What clearer demonstration could you have that this man was by then seriously mentally unwell?
“He should not have been on the streets of Nottingham but the fact he was is not his fault.”
The case was adjourned for sentencing on Thursday morning. - Guardian